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posted by LaminatorX on Wednesday February 26 2014, @09:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the And-nothing-of-value-was-lost dept.

lhsi writes:

"The BBC is reporting that starting in early March, Facebook is ending its @facebook.com e-mail system, due to a lack of use. E-mails sent to a users @facebook.com address will now be 'forwarded to the personal email address from which the member signed up for the site'.

If this is the e-mail address that is the personalised user URL followed by @facebook.com, does that mean that users will potentially be exposed to e-mail spam through it? The @facebook.com e-mails can be pieced together easily enough (and go to an 'Other' folder in the Facebook Messages area without notifying users so can currently be ignored), but actual e-mail addresses, including ones that could now have e-mails forwarded to, can be kept private. There is little information about this at the moment, even on the Facebook newsroom."

 
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  • (Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 26 2014, @09:16AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 26 2014, @09:16AM (#7212)

    facebook@eggonface.com

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by space_in_your_face on Wednesday February 26 2014, @09:20AM

    by space_in_your_face (224) on Wednesday February 26 2014, @09:20AM (#7213)

    It's easy enough to filter out every message sent to foobar@facebook.com.

    But it's interesting this news come just a few days after the Whatsapp acquisition... For me it looks like a move away from an open standard (e-mail) to a closed system (Whatsapp).

    • (Score: 1) by isostatic on Wednesday February 26 2014, @09:23AM

      by isostatic (365) on Wednesday February 26 2014, @09:23AM (#7214) Journal

      Is it really? When foobar@facebook.com has been BCCed?

      You're filtering based on message headers, which is hardly "easy" to the typical person on typical software (gmail, outlook/exchange)

      • (Score: 1) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 26 2014, @09:55AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 26 2014, @09:55AM (#7221)

        If the message makes it to your inbox, just flag it as spam and your system will learn. My 75 years old mother can do it, even without knowing what a header is.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 26 2014, @11:27AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 26 2014, @11:27AM (#7234)

          ...trust me, sonny, yo' mama knows what a header is....

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by MrGuy on Wednesday February 26 2014, @11:44AM

      by MrGuy (1007) on Wednesday February 26 2014, @11:44AM (#7238)

      It would be even easier to simply have a profile switch to allow people to decide whether to forward @facebook.com or not. You can even default it to "on."

      Also, to your point, the really interesting thing is the light this casts on the WhatsApp acquisition. I'm not so interested in "open system to closed system." What interests me is "betting heavily on people using Facebook as the hub of their communications" when simultaneously realizing "people didn't seem that interested in Facebook being the hub of their communications."

      People didn't jump on @facebook.com for e-mail. Why is "using Facebook's private e-mail-like thing that's not actually email!" a more fertile pitch?

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by adolf on Wednesday February 26 2014, @09:37AM

    by adolf (1961) on Wednesday February 26 2014, @09:37AM (#7219)

    Wasn't it not so long ago that they assigned everyone an @facebook.com email address?

    Which nobody wanted to begin with?

    --
    I'm wasting my days as I've wasted my nights and I've wasted my youth
    • (Score: 5, Funny) by mwvdlee on Wednesday February 26 2014, @10:24AM

      by mwvdlee (169) on Wednesday February 26 2014, @10:24AM (#7223)

      I wasn't aware the whole @facebook.com existed until this article.

      Too bad, would have been a great way to misinform them. Just subscribe to both Democrat and Republic newsletters, Westboro baptist church newsletter and gay porn sites, etc. Would be fun to see them try to figure out what to advertise.

      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Buck Feta on Wednesday February 26 2014, @02:57PM

        by Buck Feta (958) on Wednesday February 26 2014, @02:57PM (#7318) Journal

        Based on those four subscriptions, you'd probably get a lot of condom ads.

        --
        - fractious political commentary goes here -
        • (Score: 3, Funny) by quacking duck on Wednesday February 26 2014, @08:17PM

          by quacking duck (1395) on Wednesday February 26 2014, @08:17PM (#7530)

          "Just subscribe to both Democrat and Republic newsletters, Westboro baptist church newsletter and gay porn sites, etc. Would be fun to see them try to figure out what to advertise"

          Based on those four subscriptions, you'd probably get a lot of condom ads.

          Anytime religion is involved, you have to practice safe sects.

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by MrNemesis on Wednesday February 26 2014, @11:30AM

      by MrNemesis (1582) on Wednesday February 26 2014, @11:30AM (#7235)

      Yes, and in this soyler's case it was the straw that broke the camels back. I'd just set up a facebook account so that there was somewhere my friends could find my contact details for a more civilised medium of communication, but when facebook changed my "visible" email address to be an @facebook.com address with no option to delete it, this became a moot point and I deleted my account. It actually made me wonder if facebook was going to pull a gmail so I'm a little confused as to what their current plans are, unless they're aiming to integrate everyone into what's app in lieu of email.

      --
      "To paraphrase Nietzsche, I have looked into the abyss and been sick in it."
      • (Score: 1) by iNaya on Thursday February 27 2014, @12:50AM

        by iNaya (176) on Thursday February 27 2014, @12:50AM (#7683)

        Soyler (soiler). Hmmm. Can we have a different demonym please?

        • (Score: 1) by adolf on Thursday February 27 2014, @07:15AM

          by adolf (1961) on Thursday February 27 2014, @07:15AM (#7833)

          "cannibal"

          --
          I'm wasting my days as I've wasted my nights and I've wasted my youth
          • (Score: 1) by iNaya on Friday February 28 2014, @12:02PM

            by iNaya (176) on Friday February 28 2014, @12:02PM (#8433)

            That's better than Soylentil or Soyler. I hope it takes hold.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by JeanCroix on Wednesday February 26 2014, @04:33PM

      by JeanCroix (573) on Wednesday February 26 2014, @04:33PM (#7389)

      After this story broke, I sent two test emails from my work account to my @facebook.com address, just out of curiosity. I'd never used the @facebook addy for anything, and to my knowledge, never received anything on it - I don't even know where to check. I figured the test emails would make it obvious.

      Anyway, they both bounced.

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by bitshifter on Wednesday February 26 2014, @10:34AM

    by bitshifter (2241) on Wednesday February 26 2014, @10:34AM (#7226)

    It seems that they copy the Google way of shooting in many directions to see what will succeed.

  • (Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 26 2014, @10:47AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 26 2014, @10:47AM (#7228)

    The seven people this affects will be severely depressed for like a whole day

    • (Score: 2, Funny) by nightsky30 on Wednesday February 26 2014, @12:24PM

      by nightsky30 (1818) on Wednesday February 26 2014, @12:24PM (#7245)

      Man, that's 700 more status updates I could live without...

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by mechanicjay on Wednesday February 26 2014, @12:16PM

    by mechanicjay (7) <reversethis-{gro ... a} {yajcinahcem}> on Wednesday February 26 2014, @12:16PM (#7241) Homepage Journal

    Between the ease of getting a throw away email address and how decent spam filtering has gotten, I have little patience for people complaining that their "email address is public!". Yes, it's mildly annoying if Facebook exposes this for everyone, but no more annoying than the 1/2 dozen new violations of privacy they embark on monthly, most of which you probably don't even know about. Besides, I joined a social network for people to find me, if you don't want to be found, don't be on a social network. At then end of the day, I'd rather folks email me directly anyway.

    --
    My VMS box beat up your Windows box.
    • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Sir Garlon on Wednesday February 26 2014, @01:57PM

      by Sir Garlon (1264) on Wednesday February 26 2014, @01:57PM (#7275)

      When it comes to receiving mail, I agree with you. However, I was running a nonprofit web site back around 2004-2005 and it had an old-school mailto: link to contact the administrator. Spammers apparently started using that address in their forged sender headers. The domain got added to blacklists and before I knew it, mail sent to that domain wasn't getting delivered. I never did go to the hassle of trying to get it un-blacklisted even though I still control the domain.

      So I would say it is fine to have a gmail.com or comcast.net address that is public, but if you have your own domain, you might want to be a little circumspect about making a live email address public.

      --
      [Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by mechanicjay on Wednesday February 26 2014, @04:08PM

        by mechanicjay (7) <reversethis-{gro ... a} {yajcinahcem}> on Wednesday February 26 2014, @04:08PM (#7360) Homepage Journal

        Mail filtering and spam detection has gotten far more sophisticated in the last 10 years. Pretty much no-one trusts the from headers for anything. It's as good as a return address label on piece of physical mail. At this point trust is established at the server level through trusted and authenticated relays, and source is determined the envelope/received headers which points back to the actual origin of the message.

        The only time I've ever had a mail server black listed is due to a compromised account, which was being used to spew spam out as fast as the solaris box could pump it out or when it was mis-configured as an open-relay with similar results. That *server* became blacklisted, but not the domain as whole.

        I've been running my own mail server and domain for over 10 years, and have never had a blacklisting issue.

        --
        My VMS box beat up your Windows box.
    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by darthservo on Wednesday February 26 2014, @03:32PM

      by darthservo (2423) on Wednesday February 26 2014, @03:32PM (#7336)

      I have little patience for people complaining that their "email address is public!". Yes, it's mildly annoying if Facebook exposes this for everyone, but no more annoying than the 1/2 dozen new violations of privacy they embark on monthly, most of which you probably don't even know about.

      So, it's ok that my landlord moves my computer out into the street because he's also starting a comparatively worse practice of looking at my bank records?

      Don't get me wrong; if one joins a free service they are indeed the product. And they've agreed to whatever terms the company dictates so long as they want to continue using said product. However, organizations should understand that there is still a need to follow enough respectful practices so as not to make enough people mad that they lose their 'product'.

      --
      "Good judgment seeks balance and progress. Lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration." - Dwight D Eisenhower
      • (Score: 1) by mechanicjay on Wednesday February 26 2014, @04:00PM

        by mechanicjay (7) <reversethis-{gro ... a} {yajcinahcem}> on Wednesday February 26 2014, @04:00PM (#7356) Homepage Journal

        So, it's ok that my landlord moves my computer out into the street because he's also starting a comparatively worse practice of looking at my bank records?

        I understand what you're saying, but that's actually sort of my point. For the computer, I'd be like, "WTF Dude?" For the bank records I'd take legal action. With Facebook, there's plenty to annoyed about, but making an email address public feels like a distraction in light of deeper issues. And yes, you're 100% correct -- with Facebook, you are the product, so righteous indignation only goes so far.

        --
        My VMS box beat up your Windows box.
    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 26 2014, @06:03PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 26 2014, @06:03PM (#7432)
      Probably my biggest grouse with it was that it was worthless. I don't check facebook often, but I would think that there would be some sort of notification. A friend from 30 years ago tracked me down via facebook and emailed me at the my facebook email addy. Facebook sent me no notification, and there was no indication that I had received an email even when I was logged in. I finally found his message six months later after digging thru settings looking for something else. Note that I never messed with their default email settings. So I'm not complaining about them setting me up with their email service, or that my email addy was made public, or anything similar. I just found it to be thoroughly useless.
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by NecroDM on Wednesday February 26 2014, @12:20PM

    by NecroDM (376) on Wednesday February 26 2014, @12:20PM (#7243)

    "And nothing of value was lost"

    Facebook isn't a mail service nor it provides any value for such a service, there are my others that provide that already.

  • (Score: 1) by cmn32480 on Wednesday February 26 2014, @08:37PM

    by cmn32480 (443) <reversethis-{moc.liamg} {ta} {08423nmc}> on Wednesday February 26 2014, @08:37PM (#7548) Journal

    Thanks to this announcement, there will be millions of people who suddenly start using this and then scream when it gets turned off.

    I had no idea it even existed.

    --
    "It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson